Episode 3-31
Summary As Brilith rains fireballs upon the house, she seems to be speaking to herself, saying that she wished "she" remained ignorant for life because she wanted to protect her, and that now she is another step away from him. She first wants to blame Asha, but then blames herself for holding on to her for too long. Claude lies crumpled on the ground. Brilith launches another attack directly at Asha and burns her. In a flashback, Brilith speaks with Claude on a balcony—probably at the Temple of Fire in Atera—telling him that he is the best in silent magic on this planet. She says that she heard that the better one becomes at silent magic, the more humanity one loses. Claude tells her that on the contrary, losing one's humanity allows one to use silent magic well. She points out that most of the magicians she knows are good at it, yet they still seem to have kept their humanity. He tells her that the difference is subtle, but it is the great difference between doing a particular act and not doing it, and a lot of it was done during the Cataclysm. He then tells her that she is fortunate to be as she is now. Back in Rindhallow, Claude is now in a vegetative state and several temple staff members are in shock. One decides to have a message sent to every city plus Airi immediately. Chandra finds Laila unconscious on the floor and helps her wake up. She immediately realizes that Claude used bhavati yama on her, and he feigns ignorance as he recalls his conversation with "her" before teleportation. Laila then notices that Brilith is gone from her bed. Chandra runs outside the room and asks Tara and Natasha where the Staff of Agni is kept. Tara says that she thought Agni had it, but Chandra reveals that ever since Agni used the Neutral Bow] seven years ago, he has been unable to so much as touch the staff. After they tell him that only Brilith knows where it is, he tells Laila that they should go to Kalibloom at once. Laila balks, but Chandra assures her that it is fine since they were able to teleport to Atera already. In Kalibloom, after Laila repairs her robes with hoti asvins, she thinks of the beating she will be giving to Claude, but Chandra tells her that it is unlikely that Claude came out of the situation unscathed. They spot Brilith on high ground looking up at the sura portal and holding the activated Staff of Agni. Laila asks Chandra if Brilith came to Kalibloom by herself, and he replies that she did, and now he knows the reason why Agni was so overprotective of her. Chandra adds that at this point, even he is probably unable to stop her, and that they can only hope that she still holds her conviction to protect the cities. 3-031 bye Asha.png| 3-031 Claude circa N20.png| 3-031 vegatative state.png| 3-031 new woman (detail).png| Currygom's comment T_T T_T Afterword The sky has been pierced It's similar to hoti agni, but different~ How long ago did this happen? You can estimate the time based on the length of Brilith's hair. Laila: Haha! (holding her breath) In this scene, I originally had Laila lying facing the ceiling, but she didn't look like she was unconscious because of her mask... so I flipped her over. But it still didn't feel right because one side of the mask was still visible, so I hid part of her face in shadow. a nice spot to hunt and chase Here, the form of the Staff of Agni is similar to its form when Jibril used it, but the shape of the flame is different. It's not because of the different art style, but an actual change. The color of the flame is also different. Notes * Brilith's second attack in this episode bears an uncanny resemblance to Agni's transcendental Prominence. * Everyone Brilith has spoken with about silent magic have all told her that she is better off not being able to use it: Agni, Laila, and now Claude. * This episode reveals what Agni's penalty is, or at least one penalty, for using another god's item: He is unable to use or touch his own item, the Staff of Agni. * Questions raised in this episode: ** What exactly is "a certain act" mentioned by Claude that allows magicians to use silent magic? ** What happened to Claude? Will he ever recover, or is he a permanent vegetable? ** Why was Agni actively trying to prevent Brilith from using silent magic? How and why was this new power of hers kept under wraps? References